I noticed a story in a sidebar with that title on Bloomberg Businessweek
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...r-reckitt.html
and followed it around the internet on Google for additional details. Most of the coverage is in the business press on the possibility that Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc which makes Durex condoms (and Lysol and Vanish toilet bowl cleaner) will buy U.K. drugmaker Futura Medical Plc whose most eye catching product is an about to be released condom that:
“will contain a dose of Futura’s Zanifil gel inside the tip, boosting blood flow within the penis. The product results in firmer, larger and longer-lasting erections for men who may find wearing condoms challenging, according to Futura.” says Bloomberg. “It’s essentially Viagra in a condom,” says a UK business analyst.
More from Bloomberg:
“Zanifil, like Futura’s other experimental drugs, relies on a patented delivery system known as DermaSys that allows medicine to rapidly permeate the skin. Zanifil is based on the chemical nitroglycerin, used to treat chest pain and heart failure since the 19th century. The drug widens the blood vessels by relaxing the muscles in the vessel walls, increasing blood flow.
Unlike Pfizer Inc.’s Viagra, the condom with Zanifil will be available without a doctor’s prescription. Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugmaker, has sold the Viagra pill as a treatment for erectile dysfunction since 1998. That drug, which boosts blood flow in the penis, had 2010 sales of $1.9 billion.”
While the Zanifil-containing condoms are cleared for sale in 29 countries,the partners are “exploring the approval process” in the U.S.
This is not brand new since a June 2010 post on “edguider.com/forum” reported:
“MED2002 is based on the active compound Glyceryl Trinitrate, a potent vasodilator used for the treatment of angina and associated cardio-vascular defects for more than 40 years, where it has been determined to be safe and effective. It is expected to become the world's first non-prescription pharmaceutical treatment for men with ED. It will also be used inside the CSD500 condom to be distributed by Durex. The gel is to be licensed under the trademarked brand name of Zanifil®.”
Pretty clearly this is a condom pre-loaded with a skin-penetrating blood vessel dilator (enlarger) that requires a pre-existing erection to put the condom on over but may help maintain it, possibly breaking the dread the BBBJ giveth and the condom taketh away cycle. Maybe (no clinical testing results available anywhere that five minutes of Google could find)this might make condoms a bit less unpopular with the those prone to cock wilt and might, therefore, make the even more dreaded BBFS threads a little less frequent.
Expect a premium price for the condoms though, after the FDA is finished dragging its feet. And, no, there appears to be no information about interaction between a nitroglycerin-”based” topical and oral Viagra/Levitra/Cialis pills. Probably that depends on the extent to which the topical Zanifil enters the blood stream, if at all.
